


(Dis)Union

by BuckinghamAlice



Category: Justice League Beyond (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Justice Lords Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 21:57:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17030742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuckinghamAlice/pseuds/BuckinghamAlice
Summary: At his wedding to Wonder Woman, Lord Superman thinks back on the choices that led him to this moment... and mourns the relationship he used to share with Bruce.





	(Dis)Union

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost from tumblr of something I wrote a couple of years ago, cross posting just in case
> 
> A Justice Lords Superbat AU. Takes place after the events of Justice League Beyond #17-20 (though you could follow this without having read that).

Before the Justice Lords, back when people still called him Clark, Lord Superman used to wonder what his wedding day would be like.  For such a long time, he expected the person standing beside him would be Bruce… they’d join hands and cement their partnership forever, legally and spiritually. But he was wrong.  

Everything they had had turned to stone and eroded into dust.  And now it was all memories, bittersweet memories, heavy on the bitter.

And he was marrying a woman he didn’t love… he couldn’t even stand.  And all of this to save his world, because it was the right thing to do.

He’d never been more miserable in his life, and that was truly saying something.

Diana despised him, and he despised her.  This wasn’t  _his_  Diana… this was the woman who had killed her brutally.  And… his Bruce was gone.  It didn’t matter now that his heart wasn’t in this marriage, because he hadn’t let his heart guide him for years… since things had ended with him and Bruce.

He had loved Bruce so thoroughly, and somehow when Bruce had betrayed the Justice Lords, it had felt personal.  Like he had turned his back on Clark and on their relationship.

Lord Superman’s thoughts were interrupted when he was then instructed to take Wonder Woman’s hand, but he reluctantly obeyed.  She was cold, both physically and in her demeanor.  He wasn’t sure how this marriage would work when they couldn’t look one another in the eye or touch each other without shuddering… but Diana was right.  They weren’t the first loveless political marriage and they wouldn’t be the last. And if this was what it took, he could do it.  

He tried to put on a brave face, but he knew he was failing.  Maybe the people watching would mistake it for being somber and contemplative for the future. He didn’t really care.

He briefly glanced at the congregation around him and sighed.  For an all too brief second, he thought he saw Bruce… but he knew it wasn’t so.   _His_  Bruce was dead and buried, as was everything they’d ever shared.  The portal to the other Earth had long been closed, so the other Bruce couldn’t be there.

Just his mind playing tricks on him… as it sometimes did.  Often did.

&&&

“You killed him,” Diana mumbled, shocked.  Her face was a picture of disgust.

“It had to be done,” Bruce rationalized quietly.

Clark knew Bruce would understand.  Lex Luthor had killed Wally, an innocent and a good man… their dear friend.  And things would only get worse with him as president… and dammit, Clark had to do something.

Luthor had taunted him.  He’d tricked and hurt him… and he’d delighted in all of it. If he had gone on to lead the free world, more good people would hurt and suffer.

But he hadn’t liked the feeling of taking a life.  Too much of his Kent upbringing, and that moral code that had not served him, lingered in his conscience. Later, he remembered not being able to speak for a while… feeling like words would fail him.  Like maybe something was different in him now.

He was confused and a little scared.

As he often did when he felt troubled, he went to Bruce for comfort.

Clark fell to his knees in front of Bruce and Bruce just held him.  He stroked Clark’s hair.  He whispered, “You’re going to be fine.  You did what you had to do.  All of this now is going to fix the problems we’ve noticed.  It was the right thing to do.”

“Thank you,” Clark replied softly, not sure what else to say.

Bruce got down on his knees, too, so he and Clark were just about eye to eye, and he hugged him.  Clark allowed himself to relax into Bruce’s arms, let that touch take over him, and he felt safe again.

He looked into Bruce’s eyes and kissed him tenderly.  Bruce responded to that by holding him closer and deepening the kiss.

Clark clung to Bruce for dear life as he kissed him back passionately.  Bruce’s tongue dominated his, and he willingly submitted.  He felt Bruce’s hands roam down his back and slip under his cape and grab his ass.  

“I want you,” he said softly.  “I need to feel…”

Bruce nodded.  “I know.”

They continued to kiss and undressed very quickly.  Once the were naked, Bruce started kissing Clark’s neck and kneaded his ass with his hands.

“I love you, Bruce,” Clark breathed.

Bruce nuzzled him softly and kissed him again.  “Come to the shower.”  

They were in the Batcave.  Normally Bruce wouldn’t fool around down there, saying that wasn’t what the Cave was for… but every now and then he weakened, and he left Clark in.  

He backed Clark into the shower and grabbed the lube off the shelf, next to the body wash and shampoo.  

Instinct took over for Clark as he turned around and relaxed against the wall, which allowed Bruce to slick his fingers with lube and start opening Clark up.  His body often just responded to Bruce though, before they even started touching, so when Bruce slid a finger in it was met with little to no resistance.  He quickly added a second finger and began scissoring them open.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” he whispered.

Clark nodded.  “Now. I’m ready now.”

Bruce kissed the back of his neck as he pushed into him.  Clark moaned softly, both at the feeling of being entered, but also at the feeling of Bruce’s lips and hands on him.

Bruce began to thrust, and soon he picked up the pace so he was pistoning his hips. He held onto Clark’s waist as they fucked in the shower without even turning on the water.  It didn’t matter though… they were together, and they weren’t concerned with being clean anyways.

The sex was good, but quite brief.  It wasn’t long before Bruce was cumming inside Clark, and Clark was splattering the shower wall.  Once they were both sated, they turned on the water and rinsed each other off tenderly.

Bruce kissed Clark’s temple.  “You’re doing the best you can.”

Clark sighed softly and wrapped his arms around Bruce for a hug.

&&&

Clark would later think that he should have realized the subtle difference between Bruce saying he had done “the right thing” and saying he had done “the best” he could.  But it wasn’t until later that things became more clear.  As time had gone on, the Justice Lords methods had become more extreme, and Clark wasn’t sorry for it.  If he could prevent crime  _before_  it happened, how many lives would he be saving?  And if he and his friends led the people by force now, they could keep them safe.  People didn’t  _always_  know what was best for them.

Bruce had been on the same page as him for quite sometime… and they shared these beliefs, for the most part, until the Justice Lords first encountered the Justice League.

That other Superman reminded Clark of himself, when he was a lot younger and more naive. Back before his friend Wally had died.  And the other Bruce looked like his Bruce… he acted something like him too.  But Clark couldn’t put his finger on how exactly, but he was different, and after spending time with him,  _his_  Bruce was different too.

Suddenly their methods didn’t make sense to Bruce anymore.  Suddenly he was uneasy around Clark.  Suddenly it was Clark’s fault that things had gone “too far.”

They never exactly broke up… Clark just felt Bruce pull away from him, and for as much power as he had, he was powerless to stop that.  Somehow the Lords split into factions and society followed them, as Clark had always assumed they would.  There was war… and he led his people.  He led them against Bruce.

Bruce fell in love with the Diana from the Justice League’s world, and Clark watched from a distance as they got married and started a fulfilling life together.

Whatever the two of them had once had was over, forever.

Clark worked with his world’s Diana and eventually developed a certain fondness and love for her… but it wasn’t quite like with Bruce.  She believed in the cause though, and Clark had never known a fiercer ally.  But when she thought that killing Bruce would stop the war and get his followers to submit, Clark could find no reason to disagree.

Bruce had died, and then his Diana had died.  They had died for Clark’s cause, and that was just the reality he had to deal with.

&&&

Lord Superman stood at the altar on the day of his wedding to a woman he didn’t love, telling himself that all of this was going to be okay because he was doing the right thing.  

“Kal,” the officiant had begun, “You may now kiss your bride.”

And he had to stop himself from asking, “Do I have to?”  He continued to hold Diana’s hands and moved his face just close enough to brush a very brief kiss along her cheek.  With any luck, that would prove to be the extent of the physical contact in their marriage.

He couldn’t go back to before everything had gone bad… and he wasn’t sure if he would, if given the opportunity.  But by Rao, everything that had happened aside, he would keep loving Bruce for the rest of his life.

But he’d never have him back… and he wouldn’t love like that again.  He couldn’t allow himself to.  There was work now… there was a world to take care of.

And he wasn’t going to waste time on something like regret.  He couldn’t allow himself to.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't tag this Clark/Diana or Bruce/Diana (even though both of those relationships do sort of figure into the story) because the story is about superbat at the heart of it, and it didn't seem super appropriate to put this story in a ship tag and then kind of treat the ship like it's a second choice for both characters involved.


End file.
